Of all the phone calls European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal made late on Sunday nigth the call to Padraig Harrington he says was by far the hardest.
Harrington was handed the cruelest decision of his illustrious career in being overlooked as one of Olazabal’s wildcard picks.
The triple Major winner’s run of six straight Ryder Cup appearances career ended just after noon yesterday within the palatial surrounds of the Gleneagles Hotel.
Jose Maria Olazabal delighted with his two 'wildcard' picks but unhappy with news headlines last week. (Photo - Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Predictably, Olazabal selected England’s Ian Poulter and rookie Nicolas Colsaerts who will become the first Belgian-born player to compete in the Ryder Cup’s 85-year history.
The Gleneagles Hotel had been abuzz all morning with the European Tour also hosting a champagne breakfast for those attending the announcement.
Among the interested hotel guests coming and going was Australia’s Greg Norman who has been on the receiving end of back-to-back Presidents Cup drubbings at the hands of the Americans.
Harrington could look back to an indifferent season, and in the eyes of many, his decision not to make the effort to try and qualify by not contesting last fortnight’s Wyndham Championship and, for a second Ryder Cup running, turning down the last team qualifying event at Gleneagles for the lure of the multi-million dollar FedEx Cup Series.
“My telephone call to Padraig was the hardest I had to make because he is a great champion,” said Olazabal.
“So I felt I needed to make that phone call more to him than to anyone else.
“But I have to say to Padraig’s credit he took it well. That’s my perception, anyway.”
And Olazabal used the occasion to reinforce his disappointment of suggestions there is lingering bad blood between the duo following an incident at the 2003 Seve Trophy.
“I was a little bit upset with what happened earlier in the week, and after Padraig had shot a 64 and all of a sudden, ‘Oh, my God’ here was these articles about what happened about what nine, 10 years ago,” he said.
“I mean that is totally untrue and I want to have the best players in my team and Padraig is a great player, and he’s proven so.
“I am not sure if I was misunderstood but when I said on Thursday that Harrington needs to at least win it had been the same scenario for Sergio (Garcia), and then if he did win I would have to think about it.
“So, I wasn’t saying that if he did not win that he didn’t have a chance. No, it was nothing like that but if he did win the Barclays it would have made life a little bit more difficult for me.
“If he had of won, he would have been in the equation without a doubt.
“But I could say that about Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson or Henrik Stenson or many past Ryder Cup players that have done well.
“The fact is that he didn’t even perform to his own standards.”
Harrington made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999 in the ‘Battle of Brookline’, and ironically the same year Scotland’s Paul Lawrie also represented Europe for a first occasion.
And while Lawrie ends a 13-year European Team absence, and incidentally just a year short of Christy O’Connor’s Ryder Cup record of 14 years between his 1975 and 1989 appearances, Harrington’s run of six straight European caps comes to an end.
Harrington’s Ryder Cup record is 25 matches, nine wins, three halves but 13 losses.
But with just two points from his last 13 matches it is not living up to Harrington’s standards.
FOOTNOTE –
Harrington has spoken about the biggest disappointment in his career declaring he will fight hard to regain his place in 2014 European Team.
And with the likelihood of Paul McGinley leading the fight for captaincy, Harrington declared that would be an added incentive to play under an Irish-born captain.
“It’s nearly a given that we’ll have an Irish captain the next time as well. Which one? That’s the question,” he is reported as saying.
“I’d be rooting for Paul and thinking that Darren will get it after that. Will they give it to two Irish guys in a row? We’ll see, but they will definitely give it to Darren at some stage.
“My 2014 campaign starts next year and I know I am going to play plenty more Ryder Cups. I feel like I am playing great golf and everything is really good going forward.”
And the Dubliner admitted he was hardly surprised he wasn’t picked given a www.golfbytourmiss.com survey among his peers last week at Gleneagles overwhelmingly left Harrington out of being picked.
“The dogs in the street knew I wasn’t getting a pick so it wasn’t a hard phone call whatsoever,” he said.
“It was a polite phone call from José. I knew the result. Obviously it wasn’t news to me. I was quite comfortable with his two picks. I think they’ll do very well.
“I wish the team well and I wish the players well. I’ll certainly be watching it and rooting for them when it comes round.
“My own opinion on these things is if you don’t make it into the team automatically, you can’t have any regrets. You can’t second-guess not getting a pick if you don’t make it on merit. There’s no ifs, buts or maybes to it.”
